escp

A Python library to drive ESC/P printers

Motivation

There is no driver available for your printer, or there is one but it is slow and the print quality is mediocre.

Missing driver can be worked around by using a generic 9-pin or 24-pin generic driver. To get the highest quality, this library focuses on text mode printing, leveraging device fonts (built-in fonts), as opposed to modern drivers that rely on graphics.

Installation

pip install escp

Use

Only USB is supported for now. You can find the id_vendor and id_product values using lsusb.

$ lsusb | grep -i epson
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04b8:0005 Seiko Epson Corp. Printer

import escp

# Create a printer instance (Espon LX-300+II)
printer = escp.UsbPrinter(id_vendor=0x04b8, id_product=0x0005)
# Obtain commands for 9-pin printer
commands = escp.lookup_by_pins(9)
# Prepare the buffer to print a short text
commands.init().text('ESC/P direct printing test page').cr_lf(2)
# Printer go brrrrrr
printer.send(commands.buffer)

See demo for a more complete example.

Features

ESC/P, ESC/P2, ESC/POS

Variant	Supported
ESC/P	✓
ESC/P2	✗
ESC/POS	✗

• ESC/P (Epson Standard Code for Printers), sometimes called Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers, and is still widely used in many receipt thermal printers. Supported. Primary target.
• ESC/P2 is a more recent variant of ESC/P by Epson. Backward compatible with ESC/P. Not supported. Switch to ESC/P but some features won't be available.
• ESC/POS is a variant for controlling receipt printers as commonly used at the point of sale (POS). Often thermal printers. Not supported and out of scope. Use the comprehensive python-escpos library instead.

References

• Epson reference manual (dec. 1997)
• Wikipedia

Printers

Tested on a 9-pin reference printer: Epson LX-300+II. All 9-pin printers should work, with minor hardware limitations on some commands. 24/48-pin printers are implemented bt not tested. The differences between 9-pin and 24/48 pin are minor.

Type	Status
9-pin	Work in progress – Text mode
24/48-pin	Work in progress – Text mode – Not tested

Connectivity

Connector	Status
USB	✓
Serial	✗
Parallel	✗
File	✓

Although serial and parallel ports are not supported, you can output the printer commands to a file and send it in raw mode to the printer using lpr.

Credits

Inspired from python-escpos.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0